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First Posted: 8/13/2013 After heated debate, Luzerne County Council voted to seek applications from Republicans interested in filling the rest of Walter Griffith&#8217;s county controller term through the end of the year.
Several citizens and Councilman Edward Brominski urged council to do nothing because of the short time period. Voters will choose the next controller Nov. 5, and that Democrat or Republican will take office in January. Griffith designated senior auditor Patricia Llewellyn to serve as acting controller before he resigned last week.
Brominski also said he believes it&#8217;s inappropriate for a council made of six Democrats, four Republicans and one Independent to decide which Republican should fill the post. If council members are determined to proceed, he advised them to ask the county Republican Party to choose a person.
County Chief Solicitor C. David Pedri said the home rule charter requires county judges to fill the post within 30 days if council doesn&#8217;t select a replacement within 60 days. That means judges would have to appoint someone around mid-November, he said.
Councilwoman Linda McClosky Houck said Llewellyn shouldn&#8217;t be expected to run the office because Griffith repeatedly complained the office was short-staffed. Griffith had two unfilled vacancies before he resigned, which means the office now consists of Llewellyn and an auditor.
McClosky Houck also noted Griffith was elected in 2009 by voters of all political registrations and said council members don&#8217;t vote along party lines.
Councilman Rick Morelli said council should follow the charter directive to appoint someone and said doing so will show the public council wants to &#8220;move forward.&#8221;
Some citizens told county officials they have missed other charter requirements and deadlines.
Doing nothing would be a &#8220;dereliction of duty&#8221; on council&#8217;s part, said Councilman Harry Haas.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not willing to punt this issue to the courts,&#8221; Haas said.
Councilman Rick Williams agreed, saying council has an obligation to citizens and taxpayers to &#8220;make sure we have a functioning controller in office.&#8221;
Councilman Stephen A. Urban said he doesn&#8217;t trust the courts to make the selection and said he doesn&#8217;t consider four months a short time.
Council will post the position on the county website, www.luzernecounty.org, today and conduct public interviews next week with plans to appoint someone Aug. 27.
In addition to Brominski, Councilman Stephen J. Urban voted against the selection, saying he did not have a written copy of the selection plan.
The replacement must be a registered Republican dating back to November 2009, when Griffith, a Republican, was elected to the post, the charter says. The position will pay a gross $703 per week based on the controller&#8217;s annual $36,562 salary.
Council can&#8217;t require specific work experience because candidates can run for the position regardless of experience.
The chosen person cannot have a felony record or any contracts doing business with the county or its authorities and boards, according to the charter.
In other business Tuesday, county Manager Robert Lawton presented a mid-year financial report and said he is confident the county will end the year within or below budget.
As of June 27, the county received $90.6 million in revenue, or 73.72 percent of the $122.98 million general fund operating budget. The county spent $52 million, or 42.3 percent of budgeted funds during the same period, he said.
Lawton said plans are in the works to compensate for prison overtime expenses that are overbudget and prothonotary&#8217;s office revenue that is falling short of budgeted targets.
Councilman Jim Bobeck also presented a proposal to set the work week for full-timers at a minimum of 37.5 hours. If the standard is adopted by council later this month, the administration will convert employees who are working less than that to the new requirement, though a change can&#8217;t be implemented in union contracts without negotiation.
County employees work 32.5- to 40 hours per week, depending on the position and department.
Morelli asked if there are estimates on the cost of paying workers to put in more hours.
Lawton said there will be no increased cost because he will need fewer workers if some receive pay increases to work more.

County to act to fill post